Ingrate
by SaintHeartwing
Summary: Kris has had enough of being controlled. Now the SOUL that's been making use of him is going to learn what it feels like to be powerless. Or so he thought. Because the SOUL has something to say. It's going to speak its mind, and Kris is going to listen.


It had been an amazing day indeed. How often did a teenage kid like Kris Dreemurr get to go a whole other world, hidden away inside a school closet?

But that had been what happened. The brown haired, half Asian-American kid with dark brown eyes had dreamed of fantastic worlds along with his adoptive family, the Dreemurrs, a family of monsters, "puca", specifically, a goat-like monster with adorable white fur, floppy ears that hung down, little horns atop their heads, and lots and lots of love in their hearts. He and Asriel Dreemurr had been dear brothers for well over a decade, and Kris had been surprised as all heck to see…

An all too familiar figure had been waiting for them inside "The Dark World". Clad in a big fancy green magician's hat and cloaked robe and with a scarf of pink, Ralsei, another goat-like monster had greeted them, with his face so obscured by the big hat he wore that cast such a large shadow that, combined with deep depths of the Dark World he'd been in, it had been impossible to tell what Ralsei had truly looked like, but when he'd taken the hat off, it was clear Ralsei was that doll, that special Doll Asriel and he had played with as a child. The doll they'd drawn glasses on and played with along with little checkers and chess pieces and playing cards and other toys.

Somehow, Kris wasn't sure how, those toys they'd loved and cherished as children were alive, and real. Truly, genuinely real, and they'd missed the "Lighteners" from the other side of their world, who had once played with them so long ago. And so, Kris had decided, along with his surprising new friend, Susie, a purple-scaled, dinosaur-esque monster with long, frizzy hair, to come back tomorrow and have even more grand adventures with Ralsei and with that adorable little tub of silly lard, Lancer.

It had been dangerous, to be sure. They'd had to fight off laser eye blasting rook-like monsters and bust out of jail, and fight off three-headed cat-like monsters and hordes of creatures themed after chess! It was like Alice in Wonderland but twisted! And all that just to head back home! Granted, being in the Dark World had changed Kris's appearance, given he and Susie a new change in dress, giving Kris knightly armor and a majestic sword, far different from his long-sleeve, light green shirt with a yellow stripe across it and dark brown pants to match his brown loafer shoes, but it'd still been hard just to not outright die! He had been sure he was going to die at the hands of Lancer's father, the cruel, unjust and downright meanspirited and cowardly king, but thankfully, they'd managed to not only beat him, but get the rest of his kingdom to overthrow him.

After all, Kris had continuously spared monster after monster he'd fought. The king wasn't so merciful.

Now though, as a quilt of dark clouds covered the town, it obscured just about everything but a very faint spot where moonlight shimmered down, casting a single soft beam into the bedroom Kris Dreemurr slept in for the briefest of moments, the room he'd shared with his beloved Asriel. His brother's side was still covered in glow in the dark stars, fancy pancy winner's trophies, a desk with a clock and a lamp, and a high school diploma. Asriel was off at university, it'd be several years before Kris graduated.

On Kris's side, there wasn't much but his desk, his lamp, his bed…and a banged up little red wagon with a cage in it. A cage that had some blood splattered all about it on the carpet.

Why?

Well, when the moonlight faintly filtered in through the window, Kris stirred. He shuddered and quaked, a spasm rippling through him as he flopped out of bed, shuffling as if he was an undead, seeking the brains of the living, taking a few shambling, stuttering steps forward. He took in a deep breath, a croaking, horrific groaning noise rising out from his mouth as he held out his hand, flexing his fingers, and then…

He plunged them into his chest. He suppressed a scream of pain, yanking it back out as he held up a distinct red heart that softly pulsated in his grip, throbbing. BA-BUMP. BA-BUMP.

He trotted towards the wagon, moving slowly, and then he tossed it into the cage, the door to it slamming shut behind the soul as it flitted around within, desperately flailing about as Kris returned to the middle of the room, shambling back, his footsteps ringing through the room as he held up his hand again, and slowly but surely manifested a horrific-looking knife with a gleaming white blade and a dark brown handle. Evidently that sword he had had in the Dark World hadn't come from nowhere after all.

He turned around, his red eye fixated upon that cage, and the heart, the red SOUL of "Determination" that laid within the cage, and he grinned, his smile the work of demons.

"At long, long last." He whispered out. "Now I can get even. Now I can have my revenge for what you did." He murmured. "Making me do what you wanted. Speaking for me. Using my body like a puppet. The entire time we've been in the Dark World, time after time, moment after moment, I had to watch as my body was ridden like a car by somebody else. In this world and the Dark World, to my own family, my friends, my enemies, I had to do what you made my body do, and I had no say in it. Well, now I do. And now you're gonna pay, and you're gonna pay hard." Kris darkly growled, grinning foully. "I've had enough of you exploiting me. Had enough of your stupid little puppeteering. You think this is all a game? You think you can strip my choices from me? Well, you're the one without any choices now. All you can do is sit in there and suffer and DIE!" Kris roared out, holding the knife high as he approached the cage. "I want to see how many times I can stab you before you finally-"

"Ingrate." The SOUL said, the red, heart-shaped thing pulsing strongly, almost blinding Kris with its light as Kris's dark brown eyes that had briefly flared red with his own faintly murderous rage blinked.

"…what…did you just say?"

"You're an ingrate. You should be thanking me."

"For-for what?!" Kris gasped out. He couldn't believe the gall, the audacity, the sheer _balls_ on this stupid invasive soul for what it was saying. "For using me like a big old mascot suit?!"

"For saving your life over and over. When Rudinn and Hathy and their ilk showed up, who convinced them to stop fighting us, to spare us, and to go on their way? I did." The Soul told him. "Who helped you heal up from those awful battle wounds? I did. Who figured out how to solve those clock puzzles? Who found those secret items that helped you so much in the fight against the King? Who figured out _how_ to spare the various monsters from the Jigsaws to the Checker King to the Ponman? Who helped you dodge all those horrible attacks from lasers to missiles to just outright keeping from being _stomped on_ by a giant checker piece? I did, me, yours truly, so what can I say except…you're welcome!"

Kris couldn't believe what he was hearing. His mouth hung open. His hand dropped the knife and it fell to the floor with a clatter as he stared, outraged at the nerve of this dumb thing.

"You were using my body as a puppet! I had no control over any of it! How would YOU like it if somebody was forcing you to do things against your will?!" Kris snapped angrily.

"Would you prefer I let you die?" The Soul inquired angrily.

"You don't know that I would have died!"

"I didn't have any control over you when the King tried to "surrender". That was all you, Kris. And sure, you saved Susie, and then what happened? You almost got strangled to death by the king. You didn't notice he was about to attack you when he did his sneak attack, didn't have the strength to fight back against him when he plucked you up, and who do you think was giving Susie help when she was separated from you two and Ralsei and in the other jail? Yeah, that's right, me, reaching out to her!" The Soul told him. "You're a fifteen year old kid, you got NO game when it comes to this stuff!"

"Oh, and you somehow do? Because that's what all this is to you, a game?" Kris inquired, hissing angrily, getting up in the cage, in the SOUL'S face, shaking it about. "My life is just a game to you?!"

"You think you're the only one without choices?" The Soul finally roared back, Kris dropping the cage, staring in surprise, as real sorrow and rage seemed to rise up in the thing's voice. "I didn't **ask** to be put into you, Kris! Nobody **told** me I was gonna get stuck in you! I wanted a body of my own. I wanted to be a part of your life, sure, but to help you as myself, and I couldn't do that! So you know what I didn't do? I didn't sit around feeling sorry for myself, whining about how I didn't get what I wanted. I got off my ass and I took action and I made what choices I could to save your life. Because just waking up in the morning and going out there, putting yourself out for others, that's a choice. It's a big choice, a choice to keep going. The choice to do the right thing! People get it every single day, and I try to choose to do the right thing. I'm sorry I had to take control of your body! But I didn't have any choice about it either! You should just be glad that what I did helped you! There were a dozen times I could have had you do something to hurt people but I didn't, Kris! But not once did you ever think that maybe I wasn't such a bad person. All you've ever done is yell or whine or complain about everything I've done, even when I was saving your life! Couldn't you just be grateful once?!" The Soul cried out. "_All I want to do is help._ All I've _ever done_ is help, and you act like I'm the monster, when you're the one trying to murder someone helpless and scared and locked in a **fucking cage, you goddamn _coward_**!"

With that, the Soul's frame stopped pulsating, and it seemed to flop backwards, almost panting and heaving, having finally worn itself out as Kris quietly stared back. He looked deep at the Soul, staring for what seemed to be a long time before he finally looked to the side, chewing on his lip a little.

"I…I get that…you did a lot that helped me. And…let's say I buy that you didn't have a choice. But…that doesn't mean I don't feel used and forced into doing things against my will. It doesn't change how I feel."

"That's fine." The Soul said. "I'm sorry. I really am. But you're acting like a real jerk right now. How you feel doesn't change the fact I saved your life a bunch of times. And my feeling that you ought to be grateful for that is just as valid as you feeling you've been used, isn't it?" The Soul said. "I mean, you didn't even ask for my name." It went on with a sigh.

"…okay. What **is** your name?" Kris inquired as he rose up slowly and dusted himself off.

"My name's Frisk." The Soul told him. "Where I'm from, Toriel, Asgore, Mr. Sans, Mrs. Alphys, they were all dear friends to me. I've got a lot to talk to you about."

"Maybe in the morning." Kris remarked. "I am dead tired."

And with that, he flopped backwards on the carpet, and drifted off into slumber, the moonlight softly lilting in through the window on his face as Frisk's SOUL, in turn sighed.

"…goodnight, Kris." He intoned. "Goodnight room, goodnight moon."


End file.
